Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Chase by Barbara Dunlop

Betrayed
by his fiancée and his best friend, Chase Garrett heads out on the road with
the American Extreme Bull Riders Association, determined to ride hard and keep
a wall around his heart. But during a competition, three-year-old Riley Barrett
bursts through that barrier when he throws himself into Chase’s arms, insisting
Chase is his daddy. And Chase’s walls collapse further when he meets Riley’s
mother–beautiful, vulnerable, sexy Maddy.

A
widow for only a year, Maddy Barrett is stunned by her son Riley’s outlandish
assertion that Chase is his father. She tries desperately to convince Riley
that his father has not come home to them. When Chase and Maddy join forces to
help her son, she finds herself falling fast for the sexy, hard-working bull
rider—wishing he truly could be the man for Riley, and the man for her.

I
could not put this book down and I ended up reading it in just a few short
hours. It pulled me in from the start and had me rooting for the characters.

Here’s
what’s going on. After finding out his fiancée is cheating on him and is
pregnant by his best friend, Chase throws himself into the world of bull riding
determined to avoid woman. Although that changes when he saves three-year-old
Riley, who believes Chase is his deceased father, and falls for the little boy’s
mother. Maddy’s not sure how to convince her son Chase isn’t his father, so
they decide to work together and break it to Riley slowly, although there’s one
little problem. Maddy is falling head-over-heels for Chase but can she convince
him she’s in love with him and not just wanting to recreate the family she
lost?

I’ve
apparently developed a thing for bull riders…in my books, that is. Yeah, total city
slicker here, I wouldn’t make it an hour in a cowboys world but a girl can
still read about it! Anywho, back to the review.

Chase
totally stole my heart. He’s had a lot that he’s had to come to terms with in
his personal life but he still managed to give his undivided attention to
Riley. Instead of being annoyed that this little kid was clinging to him, he
just held Riley closer and wanted to protect him. Even though I enjoyed Chase
and Maddy getting to know each other, it was Chase and Riley that sold me on
the book.

For
the most part, I liked Maddy. She’s a good mother and she’s determined to stand
on her own two feet. But I didn’t care for the way she chose to lash out after
she fought with Chase, she handled it very poorly on her part and, truthfully,
what she was upset about was trivial and it was unfair to both Chase and her
son.

The
romance felt very realistic. It was slow to start and I enjoyed that they took time
to get to know each other and figure out what was best for Riley before taking
it to the next level.

I
also enjoyed getting to know Maddy’s brothers and Piper, whose story I’m
anxiously awaiting.

Although
I enjoyed this one, there were several reasons I gave it a 3.5. The ending was
way too rushed. The story had a nice even flow then it hit the 90% mark and it
seemed to go at warp speed. If a few extra chapters had been added, it wouldn’t
have felt so rushed and cramped at the ending. I wasn’t thrilled that the major
blowup of the story resulted from lack of communication. Seriously people, just
open your mouth and do some talking. And the last thing that irked me was the condomless
sex, twice, people, twice. I kept waiting for the oops, I’m pregnant moment to
pop up, which it never did. What irritated me even more about the lack of
protection was the fact Maddy married her first husband because Riley was the
product of unprotected sex.

Overall,
I enjoyed this one. There were some things that could have been handled differently,
but I had fun with it.